Key terms & definitions

Warfare using raids and surprise attacks rather than relying on a large, set-piece battle.

Fighting through raids and ambushes rather than relying on large, open battles.

A lasting relationship of hospitality between individuals and their households, involving obligations towards guests and hosts.

A present given to a visitor that expresses the host’s generosity and helps establish an enduring relationship of guest-friendship.

Information or assistance given to a performer to help them learn or develop a skill.

An association of craftspeople or merchants that regulated aspects of their trade, such as training and standards.

An association of people working in the same trade, such as bakers or blacksmiths; some Roman guilds arranged funerals for their members.

Organisations regulating particular trades in a town or city, including rules governing who could practise those trades.

A cutting device with a blade that cuts straight across paper or board.

Responsibility for wrongdoing; the word can also describe the troubled feeling someone experiences when they recognise that they have acted wrongly.

A feeling of responsibility for wrongdoing. Pip sometimes feels guilty even when he has not committed the act he fears.

A gold coin worth one pound and one shilling in the novel’s historical setting.

The Soviet system of forced-labour camps in which prisoners were confined and made to work.

The resolution passed by the US Congress on 7 August 1964 that authorised President Johnson to take broad military action in Southeast Asia.

An easily deceived person; as a verb, to gull means to trick someone.

The tricking of someone into believing a false story; in Much Ado About Nothing, staged overhearing persuades Benedick that Beatrice loves him.

A scene in which a character is deliberately deceived or tricked.

A quality or mode of material nature that influences human dispositions and actions. The three gunas are sattva, rajas and tamas.

An explosive mixture used to propel projectiles from weapons such as cannon.

The Chinese Nationalist Party, led by Chiang Kai-shek during the Chinese Civil War; also called the Kuomintang or KMT.

The words or teachings of the Sikh Gurus, expressed in sacred compositions.

The Sikh place of worship, where the Guru Granth Sahib is present and the community gathers.

A person whose life is centred on God and guided by the Guru’s teachings rather than self-centred desires.

The script used to write Punjabi and much of the Sikh scripture.

‘By the Guru’s grace’: the teaching that understanding God is made possible through the Guru’s guidance and grace.

A festival commemorating an event associated with a Sikh Guru, such as a birthday or martyrdom.

Anniversaries commemorating events in the lives of the Sikh Gurus, including their births and deaths.

A spiritual teacher or guide; in Sikhism, the title refers to the ten human Gurus and the Guru Granth Sahib, the eternal Guru.

The tenth Sikh Guru, who established the Khalsa and gave Sikh men and women the names Singh and Kaur.

The Sikh holy scripture, recognised as the eternal Guru and an authoritative guide to belief and conduct.